Wenham Select Board Votes Unanimously to Send $25,000 to Local Food Pantry

WENHAM -- November 4, 2025, Wenham Select Board votes unanimously to send up to $25,000 in reserve funds to Accord Food Pantry amid federal SNAP benefit disruption. The 5-0 vote, pending Finance Committee approval, was prompted by testimony from Accord Executive Director Stacey Verge, who reported 178 Wenham resident visits to the pantry in September 2025, up from 38 in September 2020, and noted that approximately 184 Wenham residents, about 3.4 percent of the town's population, receive SNAP benefits now partially withheld under a federal court standoff. Chair Ben Tymon calculated the $25,000 figure as approximating 160 recipients times a $150 average monthly shortfall, calling the motion "one piece in the puzzle." State Representatives Sally Kerans and Hannah Bowen attended the meeting and described the federal disruption as a $2.7 billion hole in Massachusetts food programming. In other business, the board unanimously authorized a working group with a May 15, 2026 deadline to develop a redevelopment proposal for the Iron Rail site and accepted a $425,000 state conservation land grant, the maximum available, for the purchase of 9 Maple Street in partnership with Greenbelt.